Whaleship set to visit New Bedford in June

Thursday

May 15, 2014 at 5:23 PMMay 15, 2014 at 6:04 PM

Steve UrbonThe Standard-Times

NEW BEDFORD — Three days before the scheduled May 17 start of the whaleship Charles W. Morgan’s 38th voyage, Mystic Seaport officials joined with contributors at the New Bedford Whaling Museum to celebrate the success of the fundraising that will pay for a Morgan visit to New Bedford next month.

Museum President James Russell announced on Wednesday that more than $400,000 of the $500,000 goal had been donated, including $50,000 contributions from BayCoast Bank, Bristol County Savings Bank, and Nye Lubricants. All three, in addition to Mayor Jon Mitchell, were given prints of a new work by artist Arthur Moniz depicting the Morgan in the modern-day New Bedford Harbor.

Mitchell acknowledged the $50,000 of seed funding provided by the Massachusetts Office of Travel and Tourism through the efforts of the New Bedford state legislative delegation, particularly Sen. Mark Montigny and Rep. Antonio Cabral.

The Morgan is scheduled to leave Mystic Seaport Saturday, weather permitting, for the New London City Pier. There, according to Chris Cox of the seaport, she will take on 50,000 pounds of ballast and be otherwise fitted out for the rest of the voyage.

The ship, which has not left Mystic Seaport since she arrived just before Pearl Harbor, will be pushed down the Mystic River by a tugboat, then towed across Fishers Island Sound and up the Thames River to New London, said the seaport.

There will be a procession of vessels down the Mystic River, including the museum’s steamboat Sabino, its fishing vessel Roann, and five whaleboats rowed by Mystic Seaport staff and volunteers.

“This is the most significant maritime event in my lifetime and I am humbled and honored to be given the responsibility of taking the Charles W. Morgan back to sea on her 38th voyage,” said Capt. Kip Files of Rockland, Maine, the Morgan’s 22nd master. “We are all looking forward to that moment when we set her sails and let the wind push us to our destination, something not seen since the 1920s.”